I never would have imagined, for the last 7 months, I would be at a psych hospital.
Not as a patient, although some would argue I should be, but as a Social Work Intern.
And the reality is I probably wouldn't have ever chosen to be in that setting without the prompting of the Lord. Like most people, I had absolutely no idea what to expect as my only real exposure to mental illness was in the media, on shows like Prison Break and in the movie Patch Adams. So, to dispel some misconceptions and myths, I want to share with you what I have learned and what I continue to learn each day.
1. Individuals with mental illness should not be defined by their diagnosis.
I think oftentimes, we view individuals that are different, maybe people who are incarcerated or those in a psych hospital, as less than human. We see their illness or diagnosis instead of the person behind it. You hear this a lot in the way we use language, "he's schizophrenic", "he's autistic" or "she's bipolar." In social work, we try to use person first language as we like to call it. Instead of "he's schizophrenic" we would say "a person with schizophrenia". Do you see the difference? Think about it this way..."she's breast cancer"...would we ever say that?? NO WAY! We would say "she has breast cancer" because she is not her diagnosis. Sadly, even our patients often refer to themselves as their diagnosis and so we must retrain them to think differently. But the thing to remember is that diagnosis does not equal identity.
2. Mental illness does not equal demon possession as many Christians believe or have been taught.
This lesson will likely put me under fire but I don't really care because after spending months and months with these patients, you can't honestly tell me that they are all demon possessed. You see, I never really understood mental illness and I have spent the majority of the last 7 months determining how I view mental illness in light of being a Christian and a social worker. To help me in this, I have been reading 2 books, Grace for the Afflicted and Troubled Minds. (I highly recommend them if you want to know more about mental illness!!) These books have been tremendously helpful in my journey of understanding mental illness but I am still working this out with the Lord. But as I interview patients, I find many traumas and abuses as well as family histories of mental illness. So, while some would argue those are still the works of demons, may I remind you that we live in a fallen world, one that is full of sin and depravity. So, yes, I think there is more in play than the view of demon possession.
3. Individuals with mental illness, on the whole, are not really as scary as you would imagine.
As I noted previously, my experience with mental illness prior to this internship was entirely based on the media, as my guess is yours is too. And let's be honest, media is not usually accurate. The guy that murder's Patch Adams girlfriend, yes, he was scary. In my last 7 months, I have probably only been scared twice and both times, the individuals were in the midst of psychotic episodes. No, they didn't hit or attack but were more verbally accosting than anything. Now, don't get me wrong, several of out patients have been deemed Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity for crimes they committed while having a psychotic episode, which I'm sure were quite scary but on the whole, in the hospital, a level of stability occurs within the first few days with the medication. Again, this goes back to Lesson Number 1, these individuals are human beings and they are not their diagnosis. If you can remember that, they are even less scary than you can imagine.
4. Individuals with mental illness need acceptance, a listening ear, a lot of patience and a lot of love.
Christians ask me quite often how I can work with this population and not get to pray for them and tell them about Jesus.And I must ask in response, "if this is our only idea of what Christianity looks like, are we missing something?" I think one of my favorite Bible stories in this season is the woman at the well, probably because her issues remind me of a lot of our patients. Yes, the woman had husband issues but she was going to the well to draw water at a time when none of the other women would be there because she was an outcast and she was ashamed. But then enter Jesus. Jesus talked with her, accepted her (not her sin), listened to her story with care and patience and poured our a whole lot of love on her, which ultimately led to her salvation. Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus talks about the importance a single cup of water can make in the Kingdom; so how could I think that taking time to listen to patients, even when they are delusional and not making a lick of sense, is of no importance? I like to think that all of these acts in Lesson 4 lay the ground work for a relationship with Jesus but even if I never see it, but do it in the name of the Lord, then God will honor that.
I feel like there are more lessons I am learning but I will wait to share those another day. Hopefully, the lessons I've shared can be helpful to you and, if nothing else, challenge the way you view individuals with mental illness.
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